“Yalena: Could you always open your door?Kiki: Yes. Fence, too.Yalena Why don't you?Kiki: Hay sweet. Fresh water. Peppermints.”

“Trust, Kiki said, Trust is peppermints.”

“Lavender Lady not go again," Kiki said in my mind."I'll try to avoid it. No promises, though."She huffed. "Next time Kiki go.""A Horsefinder?""Help Lavender Lady.”

“Right. I look fine. Except I don't,' said Zora, tugging sadly at her man's nightshirt. This was why Kiki had dreaded having girls: she knew she wouldn't be able to protect them from self-disgust. To that end she had tried banning television in the early years, and never had a lipstick or a woman's magazine crossed the threshold of the Belsey home to Kiki's knowledge, but these and other precautionary measures had made no difference. It was in the air, or so it seemed to Kiki, this hatred of women and their bodies-- it seeped in with every draught in the house; people brought it home on their shoes, they breathed it in off their newspapers. There was no way to control it.”

“- You look fine. - Right. I look fine. Except I don't, said Zora, tugging sadly at her man's nightshirt. This was why Kiki had dreaded having girls: she knew she wouldn't be able to protect them from self-disgust. ”

“In fact, there was a sort of satisfaction and pride in knowing that Kiki was his. Other men could look, they could envy, they could even covet, but she was going home with him. Every. Time.”